The Girai Wurrung (translation = Blood Lip) language-culture group included 21 clans occupying estates east of the Hopkins River and it’s Salt Creek tributary, west of Mount Emu Creek, the Heytesbury region and the coast between the mouth of the Hopkins and the Gellibrand River at the western edge of the Otway Ranges. The former Framlingham mission and current Framlingham community are on the estate of the Gilidmurar gundidj clan.
Kaarwin kuunawarn
Kaarwin kuunawarn (hissing swan) was the clan-head of the Gunaward gundidj clan of Lake Connewarren, west of Mortlake. In 1838, immediately prior to the occupation of Girai Wurrung lands by settlers, he summoned 1000 people to a meeting there (presumably to discuss their response to the invasion). In 1880 only three of those 1000 people were alive.
Kirrai Wuurong, Kiri Wurru, Girriwurru, Kiri Woorong, Kirrae Whurrong, Keerraywoorroong.
A great deal of the Girai Wurrung language that is known was recorded by the settler James Dawson who, along with his daughter, learnt the language (Dawson 1881).
The language is one of a group of closely related languages or dialects that included Djargurd Wurrung to the immediate east, along with others spoken across the coastal plains as far west as the Glenelg River near the South Australian border and north to Hamilton and the Wannon River. Less than a third of the vocabulary is shared with the languages of peoples to the north and east.
A dictionary of the language is available - Sharnthi and
Krishna-Pillay (1996).
It is probable that some Girai Wurrung clans intermarried with Djargurd Wurrung and Dhauwurd Wurrung clans.
Little is known of the traditional beliefs and laws of the Kirai Wurrung. However, like the Djargurd Wurrung, it is likely that clans were organised into two moieties - Gabadj (Black Cockatoo) and Guragidj (White Cockatoo). The moieties were inherited matrilineally (i.e. from the mother).
The Girai Wurrung occupied lands that included bountiful coasts where shellfish were plentiful, estuaries and waterways where waterfowl and fish were abundant, woodlands and forests to the south and grassy woodlands to the north with an abundance of game. Throughout the woodlands and grassy plains, murnong tubers would have provided the starchy staple of the diet. Other plants provided plenty of seasonal variety.
The numbers on this map indicate the approximate locations of clan estates. The entire landscape was a mosaic of such estates. Through intermarriage and other alliances people were able to access land and resources far beyond their own estates. Access to land and resources was negotiated through discussion, marriage, ceremony and adherence to law.
It is possible that there were more clans than listed here.
This map is derived from Clark(1990)
No. |
Clan name |
Approximate location |
Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An historical atlas of western and central Victoria